Veritas
by TitansRule
Summary: While Don deals with his sister becoming embroiled in his case, all Jess can do is stay by his side. Story #45 in my 'Kindred Spirits' series.


**Disclaimer: I don't own CSI:NY.  
****Series: 'Kindred Spirits'.  
****Spoilers: **_**Veritas**_**; **_**Hostage. **_**Dialogue in bold was taken straight from the episode.**

* * *

Veritas

Jess hadn't realised how tired she was until Don told her to get some sleep. She had followed his suggestion and undressed, slipping into the shirt he'd left her, but it wasn't until her head hit the pillow that she realised that her earlier nap had nothing to do with comfort and everything to do with exhaustion.

Don wasn't supposed to be back at his apartment; it was the middle of his case and he had leads to follow up, but he needed to sort something out first.

True to his guesses, Jess was still sound asleep, looking so peaceful he couldn't help hesitating to wake her, but he had to.

He touched her cheek gently and smiled as she turned her face towards his touch. Reluctantly, realising he'd been watching her sleep for longer than was really appropriate, he moved his hand to her shoulder and shook her gently. "Jess?"

"Hmm?" Jess's eyes blinked open. "Don? How long was I asleep for?"

"Couple of hours." Don answered. "How light a sleeper are you?"

"I'm a cop." Jess reminded him with a yawn. "I can't afford to be a heavy sleeper."

"So if someone had buzzed downstairs or the phone had rung?" Don asked.

"It would've woken me up." Jess promised. "Were you expecting someone?"

"Adam caught a picture of Joe at the toll-booth on the George Washington Bridge." Don told her. "He's back in New York. Thing is, he dropped a coin and had to open the car door …"

"Plates?" Jess asked, now awake.

"Bogus." Don scowled. "But he lifted a VIN number; came back to Samantha."

Jess stared at him. "As in your sister?"

"Yeah." Don ran a hand through his hair. "And now I can't get hold of her. I mean, I don't want her to have anything to do with it, but what if her car was jacked or something, Jess; what if …?"

"Don, if she was hurt, you'd know by now." Jess told him. "Though how much of a comfort that is … Do you want me to come in?"

Don shook his head. "No. It's not your case, Jess, and it's not your shift. Do me a favour and stay here; if she calls, call me."

"You got it." Jess stood up. "I should probably get up though."

Don didn't say anything as she stretched, his shirt rising up dangerously high around her thighs. He stood as well, forcing himself to think about the most gruesome crime scene he could remember. Now Devon was gone, it was becoming harder to resist his partner, though a voice in his head kept reminding him that he had to.

That same voice was telling him that it probably hadn't been a good idea to lend her his shirt, however amazing she looked in it.

"So Mac's alright?" Jess asked.

"No harm done." Don assured her. "But Derrick James is dead."

Jess frowned. "He was your prime suspect for the bank manager, right? Maybe … Maybe he met up with Joe to split the money and Joe killed him."

"And tried to kill Mac." Don finished grimly. "We need to find out who this son-of-a-bitch is."

"Don …" Jess caught his arm as he moved towards the door. "Are you alright?"

"Fine." Don assured her. "Just keep an eye out for my sister, yeah?"

Jess nodded. "You know I will."

* * *

"There she is." Stella murmured, nodding towards a woman and her daughter.

Jess sighed. "I hate this part." She walked towards them, pulling her badge out. "Alison Scott?"

"Yes?" Mrs. Scott looked a little nervous, clutching her daughter's shoulder.

"I'm Detective Angell, this is Detective Bonasera." Jess hooked her badge on her belt again. "We need to speak with you about your husband."

Don had called her about an hour later to let her know he'd found Samantha and that the panic was over. When he called _again_ and told her that the car had been found and the dead body of Sam's friend Lauren had been found with it, Jess had gone back into work, ignoring his insistence that she didn't need to and, _despite_ that insistence, he hadn't looked at all surprised to see her.

"Is he alright?" Mrs. Scott asked, looking worried.

Jess and Stella exchanged a glance and Stella moved over to Emma. "That's a lovely teddy bear, Emma. Does he have a name?"

Jess jerked her head over her shoulder and Mrs. Scott followed her out of earshot, her movements almost automatic. "Mrs. Scott, **your husband was involved in a bank robbery. He took a police officer hostage and he's committed murder.**"

Mrs. Scott stared at her for a few minutes. "No. **I'm sorry, but you have the wrong guy. Ethan wouldn't do that.**"

"Mrs. Scott, we had to check for watermarks to find out his name _was_ Ethan." Jess told her gently, pulling evidence bags out of her own bag and thumbing through the fake passports. "We weren't sure if he was Eric Johnson, Doug Anderson, Michael Peterson … That's several counts of fraud, if nothing else."

Mrs. Scott shook her head silently, her eyes begging Jess to start laughing and tell her it was a joke.

Jess showed her the picture of Joe/Ethan at the toll-booth. "We found that car later with …" she showed her another picture, this time of Lauren Salinas "… her dead body in the trunk."

"No …" Mrs. Scott whispered.

Jess had one more card to play and she watched Mrs. Scott carefully to see if she needed it. She could see the desperate hope in the woman's eyes that this was all a coincidence, and hated to kill it, but they needed Alison's cooperation if no one was to get hurt. "Mrs. Scott, we found this in the back of the getaway car. We swabbed DNA that was a familial match to the bank robber; means it belonged to his daughter." She pulled the last evidence bag out and showed Mrs. Scott the bright yellow barrette that had been found in the back seat.

Seeing her daughter's hair-clip, Mrs. Scott broke down crying and Jess comforted her the best she could, knowing that she now had to ask Alison Scott to do the last thing any woman wanted to do: help the police arrest her husband.

* * *

For the first time in her memory, Jess found herself sitting outside Don's door, waiting for him to get home.

Normally, she wouldn't have bothered, knowing that he would come to find her sooner or later, but his sister was a sore topic and she knew him well enough to know that this was one of the times that he would shut her out.

Well, not if she had anything to say about it.

Soon enough, footsteps heralded his arrival and he rounded the corner, stopping when he saw her.

"Hey." Jess greeted.

Don chuckled. "You know me too well. You call for pizza?"

"Actually, I went one better." Jess admitted, taking his hand as he pulled her to her feet. "I manage to knock together some corned beef earlier while I was waiting for you or Samantha to call; it's in your freezer."

Don paused in unlocking the door. "It's times like this I curse your last name, you know?"

"Why?" Jess asked, puzzled.

"Because I can't call you an angel without making a pun." Don opened the door and let her in. "You are though."

"I wouldn't go that far, Don." Jess laughed, slipping into the kitchen. "Although it was difficult, given that you've got next to nothing edible in your kitchen."

"That's not true." Don disagreed. "There's a …"

"Cupboard to the left of the sink." Jess finished. "I know." She pulled a dish out of the fridge and put it in the microwave.

"I thought you said it was in the freezer?" Don asked.

Jess blushed lightly. "I made a lot." She explained. "The rest of it's in the freezer."

Don wrapped an arm around her. "What would I do without you?"

"Starve probably." Jess retorted with a grin. "Didn't you say something about needing a shower back at the precinct?"

"Yeah, I did." Don admitted. "And I do."

"I can tell." Jess teased. "Why don't you grab a shower and I'll heat this up."

Don kissed her forehead and released her. "Thanks, Jess."

Jess's smile slipped as he disappeared into his bathroom. They were starting to act like a couple, albeit strictly platonically, if that was possible.

The question was how long could she keep from giving in and just melting into his arms.

_Snap out of it, Jessica. _The stern voice in her head told her, the one that sounded annoyingly like her father, but female. _You're partners and it's unprofessional._

_Besides,_ another voice said quietly, _he's never going to think of you that way. Things will get awkward and you'll lose him._

And therein lay her problem.

Jessica Angell could deal with serial killers, psychotic gunmen and gory murder scenes without flinching.

But the thought of losing Don scared her more than anything and she wasn't about to do anything that risked that happening.

* * *

**AN: Okay, so we're into Season 5 and I have the challenge of keeping Flack and Angell apart until 5.07. They're not very happy with me, so you'll have to bear with me *grins*. We've got a snow-weekend down here, so I'm going to see if I can get Impossible updated, followed by Blind Love, but I'm going on a work placement for the next two weeks, so I'm really not going to have that much spare time XD**

**Review please!**


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